Retrospect: Architect showed drawings for schools

Forty-five years ago this week, the first artist sketches of a new Jay County high school and elementary school were presented to Jay School Board at its regular Monday meeting.
Architect Jerry Fair, of K-M Associates, Elkhart, submitted the drawings and requested that bid-letting take place at 7 p.m. Jan. 11, 1972, in the Portland Junior High School auditorium.
Bid-letting for additions to Pennville and Westlawn elementary schools was scheduled for the same time.
The renderings presented at the Dec. 6, 1971, school board meeting were of Jay County High School, which is located along Indiana 67, and of the current East Elementary off of Water Street.
Jay County High School opened in the fall of 1975 and East Elementary opened a year earlier.
At the time of the 1971 meeting, 12 firms had expressed interest in receiving the general contract for the high school and 17 had asked for the specifications for the general contract bid for the new elementary school.
For the overall requests for the various specifications for the new JCHS, 132 firms asked for the different specifications. Sixty-seven requests were made for the elementary school specifications.
Fair told school board at its meeting that a bidders conference was to be held the week of Dec. 20 in Portland to allow bidders to have any final questions about the construction projects.